The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-10-01
A GIGANTIC MASTODON.
The Most Perfect Specimen Discovered
Since the Year 1915.


The Most Perfect Specimen Discovered
Since the Year 1915.
Prof. Angelo Heilprin of the Academy
Of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia writes
to the Public Ledger that mastodon of
ponderous proportions has been discovered
In the immediate vicinity of Philadelphia.
The find is due to the enthusiasm of two
young students of geology, j. Colman
Saltar, of Pemberton, and Emlen McCon-
nell, of Philadelphia, through whom Prof.
Heilprin was made acquainted with the
facts OF first discovery, and on whose
representation he visited the locality sup
posed to harbor the skeletal remains.
The giant elephant was found to be en-
tombed in the bed and bank of a small
stream, tributary of the Rancocas,
which at this spot (somewEat over a mile
from the railroad station) cuts through
deposit of Ignite clay and
ferruginous sand and gravel to
depth of some three to five
feet. The unusually high water of the
stream had evidently only quite recently
exposed so much of the skeleton as was at
tainable at the time of the vista portion
of the upper jaw and the head of one of
the thigh bones-and it was clear from the
manner in which a number of bones were
found inter-associated that the true rest
ing place of the animal had been found.
The bones, which are mainly in a good
state of preservation, were firmly en-
bedded, and not until after having partial
ly diverted the course of the stream was
it possible to remove them from the in
closing matrix. The head was found rest
ing on its top surface, with a portion Of
one of the molars of the upper Jaw ex-
posed above the water. Both tusks had
been removed from their sockets, and
likewise one of the anterior E1oars;
fortunately, however, the former was re-
covered by the two young men above
mentioned in the bed of the stream, a
short distance below, and, although no
longer perfect, were still sufficient in
themselves to indicate ponderous dental
armature. By closely feeling and grubbing
along the bottom of the stream, other parts
of the skeleton, such as the leg and arm
bones, ribs, ETC., We're successfully I'M
covered, and, doubtless, further excava-
lions will reveal the greater part, if not
the whole, of the skeleton. Through the
generosity of the finders, Messrs Saltar
and Mcconnell, the parts have been donat-
ed to the Academy of Natural Sciences,
whittier they are now being removed. No
exact measurements of the bones have as
yet been made, but they indicate an animal
apparently equaling if not surprising a
full-grown elephant in size. The species
is probably Hdst0d0R glgdRteuS.
The remains of mastodOns, writes Prof.
Heilprin, have been found at various times
in the State of New Jersey, but it appears
that none either so well preserved or so
perfect have been determined since 1915,
when, as reported by Sir Charles Lyell,
six skeletons We're exhumed from a drained
pond in Warren County, in the north
western part of the State. Five of these
Immediately crumbled, but the sixth one
is said to have been preserved entire
(even to the retention of the
food contained in its stomach ~ The
whereabouts of this skeleton, if it at all
exists, Prof. Heilprin has been unable to
discover A nearly perfect skeleton is
reported to have been excavated in the
line of the Morris Canal near Schooley's
Mountain, in 1927, and a similar one,
which subsequently became the property
Of the New York Lyceum of Natural His.
tory, three years before, in a swamp at
Poplar, Monmouth County. Fragments
of teeth and bone have been noted from
several other localities and counties, and
it appears that the animal was aa in
habitant of the greater portion of the
State. The latest important find in this
direction is the mastodon of Freehold,
Monmouth County, which was discovered
on June I, 1882, and fully described by
Mr.. Samuel Lockwood, at the Montreal
meeting of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, in August
of the same year. 1t is interesting to
note, as bearing upon the present dis
covery at Pemberton, that near the same
locality, some twenty years ago, a mas
todon Uranium, unknown to be such, for
several years served as a stepping-stone
in swamp.